What are grits?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
April 27, 2004
Also Sponsored By: Gurney's Seed and Nursery—>Click here.
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading—>Click here.
Assorted Killer Savings Garden Links—>Click here.
Unique Professionally Designed Gardens—>Click here.
Killer Picks: Sweet Bicolor Corn & Popcorn—>Click here.
When Columbus wrote to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1498, he mentioned fields of corn (Zea mays Linnaeus) eighteen miles in length. The town of Hochelega (modern day Montreal) was surrounded with large fields of corn when Jacques Cartier and his men visited it in 1535. One of Hernando De Soto's men commented on the abundance of corn cultivated around the villages of the Apalachee (modern day Tallahassee) in 1539.
In 1687 and 1688, the Marquis de Denonville, then Canadian governor, sent troops to retaliate against the Seneca (Iroquois) in western New York. The troops were said to destroy a "vast quantity of grain" estimated by H. Howard Biggar of the USDA in 1918 to have amounted 1,200,000 acres
(1,875 square miles) of cornfields. In 1779, George Washington and Congress sent troops to destroy the towns, homes, gardens, and agriculture fields of the remaining natives in New York. The cornfield of the town of Gathtsewarohare in particular stood out. The field was obliterated in six hours, but it took 2,000 soldiers to complete the task.
American natives held festivals when corn was "green" (roasting ear stage) with the remainder of the crop allowed to ripen for storage through the winter. The husks of ripe corn were peeled back and braided together allowing for many ears to hang for drying and storage. But dried corn is impossible to eat without preparation.
The natives popped popcorn (Everta group), ground flour corn (Amylacea group) into cornmeal or they soaked dried corn—flour, dent (Indentata group), and flint (Indurata group) in lye to remove the outer shell. This corn was known as hominy among the Algonquians and pozolli (posole) by the Aztecs. After soaking in lye, the kernels could be re-dried and cracked into small pieces (grits) for later cooking.
Of the peoples who settled North America, some preferred a life away from the towns. These self-reliant backcountry people lived for generations on the same land. They may well have learned survival from the natives that once lived on the same land. These people ground their corn or made their hominy and grits. By social norms, they were considered "...an inferior class of white hill-dwellers in some of the southern United States...." They were disparagingly called crackers. "The name is said to have been applied because cracked corn is their chief article of diet; it is as old in Georgia and Florida as the times of the revolution." (Century Unabridged Dictionary, 1889)
News from the Sloughs, the newspaper of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of the Chippewa, has a great article on the preparation methods of numerous Native American foods, including how hominy was made. To read this interesting article, click on the link:
http://www.ncis.net/brnews/2001/jan2001/cooking.htm
(Compiled from: "Sullivan's Expedition, New York 1779", The Old New York, Francis Whiting Halsey, Charles Scribner's Sons, NY; "The Oyster River Raid-King William's War", Ne-Do-Ba; "The Old and New in Corn Culture", H. Howard Biggar, Yearbook of the USDA, 1918; "Corn Masa: the Dough Dimension", Clyde E. Stauffer, PhD, Baking & Snack, March, 2002; and "Florida Settlements at the time of European contact", Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State)
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading:
What ceremony celebrated the gift of the corn harvest? Herbal Folklore - August 27, 2001
Why do we call maize, corn? What's in a Name? - August 31, 2001
What plant helped build North American civilizations? Plants that Changed History - Aug 28, 2001
What is pellagra? Plants that Changed History - February 24, 2004
Killer Savings Links:
Breck's Bulbs -$25 off—>Click here.
Gurney's Seed and Nursery -$20 off—>Click here.
Henry Fields Seed and Nursery -$20 off—>Click here.
Spring Hill Nursery -$20 off—>Click here.
Gardens Alive! -$20 off—>Click here.
Michigan Bulb -$20 off—>Click here.
Unique Professionally Designed Gardens
Springhill Nursery®
Spring Hill Nursery has unique gardens professionally designed by experts to take the guesswork out of gardening. Whether you are looking for a three season garden, foundation garden, or a garden to attract hummingbirds and butterflies, Spring Hill Nursery has created a step-by-step design just for you.
Click here - Save $20 on $50 order
Northern Xtra Sweet Bicolor Corn
Gurney Seed and Nursery®
Our Favorite Bicolor—Early and Extra Tender. Gurney's Choice Delicious version of the popular Northern Xtra Sweet. Cool soil emergence produces super-sweet, 9-inch ears in a hurry.
Click here to get $20 off your first order at Gurneys!
[More Corn...]
[More Vegetable Seeds...]
Corn Cutter
Henry Fields Seed and Nursery®
Makes cutting and canning sweet corn a snap! Strips every kernel off an ear of sweet corn in 5 quick strokes but leaves the hulls on the cob. Saves time, effort and energy. Rugged polystyrene casing.
Click here for $20 off at Henry Fields Seed and Nursery!
[More Corn...]
[More Vegetable Seeds...]
Corn Desilking Brush
Henry Fields Seed and Nursery®
Cleans 4 times better than any other design on the market! Each brush is equipped with over 1,000 pyramid-shaped bristles. Easily wipes off sticky corn silks. Scrubs garden vegetables, too.
Click here for $20 off at Henry Fields Seed and Nursery!
[More Corn...]
[More Vegetable Seeds...]
|
BACK TO TOP
